The gratitude Gala Awards is an annual gala started since 2011 and hosted by Canadian Centre for Refugee Employment to honour and recognize the contributions made by individuals, employers and organization in our community work into better the lives of refugees starting a new life in Manitoba Canada.

The awards raised also awareness about the positives contributions that refugees welcomed in Manitoba are making in shaping Manitoba as a better place to live.

Jim Carr for Buntu award:
Jim Carr is a founding member of the Business Council of Manitoba (BCM) and believes in the economic, cultural and demographic virtues of immigration, which has become essential to Manitoba.

Jim Carr believes that immigration and education go hand in hand. “Manitoba’s economic leaders are interested in immigration because it’s a source of skilled labour for them. It’s important to have lots of immigrants and for them to be skilled because the best way to integrate them into our communities is to hire them! When they integrate successfully, the entire community reaps the benefits.”

Bintou Sackp for RaFiKi award:
Bintou Sacko does more than just manage at Accueil francophone. She works hand in hand with immigrants and does all she can to facilitate the integration of Francophones who arrive in Manitoba.

Paul Kambaja
“When they come to Manitoba, young refugees are assigned to a class based on their age, but many of them are far behind academically,” he explained. “As a teacher, I was seeing these young people drop out of school because they couldn’t keep up and nobody was helping them.”
It was thanks to the involvement of Paul Kambaja and parents that the idea of a summer school came about.

Patrick Thiovo for Malaika Award
“I decided to start a driving school for young immigrants from my community and offer lessons in four languages: French,English, Swahili and Lingala. Learning how to drive makes it easier for them to get around the city and increases their chances of finding a job.”

Trésor Namwira for Nyota Award
“I come from a country where people all have a similar appearance, so when I arrived in Manitoba, I was impressed by its multiculturalism,” he said. “I wanted to do my part to promote multiculturalism in the community. Music seemed like the obvious solution because I’d been in a musical group with members of my family back in the Congo. We decided to re-form the group here.”

2011 RECIPIENTS

– Robert Vineberb for Buntu award:
“It was more than just an award for me. It was also a source of encouragement. I don’t get involved to get recognition, but the Buntu Award strengthened my desire to work with the immigrants in our community.” Robert Vineberg.

– Teferi Nega for Malaika Award:
“I try to help my community and I hope that awards that recognize involvement will encourage more people to get involved. There are still too many people who need our help for us to stop getting involved, and the Malaïka Award has been a source of motivation for me” Teferi Nega

– Gentil Misigaro for Nyota Award:
“I play music and use it to try to convey ideas. Receiving the Nyota Award made me realize that my message was getting through to people. It’s very inspiring and gratifying to know that our involvement is acknowledged.” Gentil Misigaro